


Packing

by imamaryanne



Category: Baby-Sitters Club - All Media Types
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 11:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5706364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imamaryanne/pseuds/imamaryanne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam helps Charlie pack for college.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Packing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [isquinnabel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/isquinnabel/gifts).



> Written for Fandom Stocking 2015. Just took me a while to post to AO3 :)

  
Not many guys would help their older brothers pack for college. In fact, most guys were probably anxious to get the older brother out of the house.  
  
But, as much as he’d never admit it out loud, Sam was going to miss Charlie and actually wanted to spend this time with him. So here he was, folding a pile of Charlie’s undershirts just so he could have these moments.  
  
And it’s not like Sam didn’t have friends. He had plenty of friends. He was handsome, funny, and popular, not to mention a pretty good baseball player. He knew he was lucky to get through high school being all of those things. But Charlie, ever since the day their father had walked out the door the last time, was his _best_ friend.  
  
After Patrick had left, Charlie had gotten angry and Sam had decided rules didn’t apply to him. And their mom was great. Even working as much as she did, she managed to get them to talk to a therapist, which helped Charlie with his anger problems, even if it never did quite make Sam a rule-follower. (Because, let’s face it, stealing the football team’s dirty socks and stuffing them in the horns of the marching band’s trombones and tubas was funny and totally worth the two Saturday detentions it had earned him.)  
  
“Remember when I stuffed the football team’s socks into the brass instruments?” Sam asked Charlie.  
  
Charlie raised his eyebrow, “Dude. That was only like nine months ago. Of course I remember it.”  
  
Sam smirked, “You’re going to miss shit like that.”  
  
“You think?”  
  
“I know you will,” Sam said. “If you’d gone to college closer, you could come home more often to hear about things like that.”  
  
“You mean I could be responsible for driving your ass to Saturday detention at 7 am?”  
  
“Well, now I can drive myself.” Sam inherited the junk bucket, and he swore he wouldn’t be such a softie when it came to giving their siblings rides the way Charlie had been.  
  
“Anyway,” Charlie said. “There’s something to be said for going far away to college.”  
  
“Like what?” Sam asked. He hated Charlie going to California for college. If Charlie had stayed local, maybe Sam wouldn’t feel so weird about wanting to follow his big brother. After all, a lot of people from Stoneybrook High went to the nearby colleges, UConn, Fairfield University, Central Connecticut, Quinnipac. If Sam happened to end up at one of those with Charlie, no one would blink an eye. But following him out to UCLA? That seemed a little….well, a little pathetic.  
  
“I like going someplace where no one knows me,” Charlie said. “I want a clean break from Stoneybrook.”  
  
“What’s wrong with Stoneybrook?” Sam asked. Not that he was in love with the small-town or whatever, but it wasn’t the worst place in the world to grow up.  
  
Charlie shrugged vaguely, “I’m just ready for a total change of scenery. It’s hard to explain.” For all his smarts, Charlie was a stoic guy, and things were often hard for him to explain.  
  
Sam silently continued to fold Charlie’s undershirts, then when he was done, emptied Charlie’s sock drawer onto the bed and began matching socks. Charlie watched him intently. “You could join me,” he offered.  
  
Sam looked up, and caught Charlie’s eyes. “What?”  
  
Charlie shrugged and smiled a little, “In a couple years. When you graduate. You could apply to UCLA. You’re, like, the one thing I’m actually really going to miss when I go.” He almost seemed embarrassed to admit it.  
  
Sam’s heart raced in giddiness, which he hid behind a bland smile. “Maybe.”  
  
“Maybe?” Charlie said.  
  
“UCLA’s tough to get in to. Harder than Central Connecticut anyway.” Charlie had always been a better student than Sam.  
  
Charlie rolled his eyes, “Then stop pranking the marching band and start studying.”  
  
Sam thought for a moment. Would it be worth it? Hanging up the pranks that cost him detentions at best, and an occasional suspension at worst, in order to follow Charlie to UCLA?  
  
Yeah, it’d be worth it. Still, Sam just shrugged, “I’ll see what I can do.”


End file.
